The gap between active and capable
If “I walk most days” is your answer when you’re asked what do you do for exercise, you might want to read this.
First off, it’s a good habit and I don’t want to talk anyone out of it, but I do want to hold a spotlight to it.
And yes, there’s walking and then there’s walking.
But it seems to me that walking has become a default answer to a bigger question, and I don’t believe it’s always enough for the things we want to achieve.
Hear me out:
Being active is about doing something regularly.
Being capable is about the range of physical demands your body can meet without hesitation. You know, the awkward lift, the fast reaction, the stairs with arms full, getting up off the floor without using your hands.
While walking helps us to stay active, it doesn’t necessarily improve capability, and that’s the one that protects us as we get older.
Strength and power are the two things that decline fastest with age if we don’t intentionally train for them, and they slip well before cardiovascular fitness starts to slip.
And walking, however consistent, isn’t generally about strength and power.
It’s low load, predictable, and repetitive, so it’s great for baseline health but it’s not great at building the reserve capability needed for the unpredictable stuff we can experience.
So it’s not about walking less, or saying that walking is ineffective, but we do need to stop treating walking as the whole strategy.
If we want to be able to meet heavy, awkward, or sudden demands and come through it without drama, we need to train for strength, power, agility and balance, on purpose and at a dose that’s challenging.
If most of your movement right now is walking, it’s worth finding out what that leaves uncovered.
